According to many interpretations of the Mayan
calendar, 2012 marks the end of time as we know it, or even the end of the
world. Others believe that the world will not end, but instead will be
transformed as we move into an age of enlightenment. In order to understand
how Mayan prophesies relate to us now in modern times it is necessary to have
a basic understanding of the Mayan concept of Galactic time as well as ancient
Mayan astrology and mythology.

What is known as the Mayan calendar is in fact a
system of at least 17 different calendars used by the Maya civilization of
pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, some of them charting time accurately over a span
of more than ten million years. What is commonly referred to as the Mayan
calendar today is actually a combination of three of these calendar systems
known as the Tzolk’in (the sacred calendar); the Haab (the civil calendar);
and the Long Count.

The Tzolk'in

The Tzolk'in is based on the 26,000 year cycle
of the Pleiades and combines the numbers from 1 through 13 with a sequence of
20 day-names. It works in a similar manner to our named days of the week and
their date within each month. After 260 days the same number/name combination
will re-occur, and the calendar starts anew.

The Haab

The Haab is an agricultural
calendar and consists of 18 months, each with 20 days with the addition of a
five-day month for a cycle of 365 days. The Tzolk’in calendar and the Haab
calendar are combined to produce a cycle of 18,980 days which is a little less
than 52 solar years.

The Long Count

The Long Count describes a Great Cycle of 13
b'ak'tuns which is approximately 5,126 solar years. This system is comprised
of a 360-day year called a k'in; twenty of these k'ins are known as a uinal;
eighteen uinals make one tun; twenty tuns are known as a k'atun; and twenty
k'atuns make a b'ak'tun. This is relevant to us today because December 21,
2012 is the end of the current Great Cycle that began on August 11, 3114 BC.

In order to better understand why some believe
that the Mayan Long Count actually ends in 2012, it is necessary to recognize
certain astrological and Galactic cycles. At sunrise on December 21, 2012, for
the first time in 26,000 years, the sun will rise to conjunct the intersection
of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic, which will form a great cross
of stars and planets in the sky. This cosmic cross is considered to be an
embodiment of the Sacred Tree also known as The Tree of Life.

2012 Transit of Venus

In 2012, there will also be a transit of Venus
when Venus passes directly in front of the Sun from our perspective on the
Earth. It is a perfect alignment between the Earth, Venus and the Sun. The
last transit of Venus occurred in 1882, around the time of the rediscovery of
ancient Mayan sacred sites. Transits of Venus are a fairly rare celestial
phenomenon and they occur, in pairs separated by 8 years, in alternating
cycles every 105 and 120 years.

The solar meridian crossing the Galactic equator
and the earth aligning itself with the center of the galaxy may signify the
start of a new era, and when we take into account the cycles of the Mayan
calendar, it truly does seem that we are in the midst of great changes.

In the
book Popol Vuh: A Sacred Book of the Maya, which chronicles the Mayan
civilization’s creation myth known to the Quiché Maya of the colonial-era
highlands, the end of the 13th b'ak'tun is of great significance. Although it
does not mark the end of the world but instead views Humanity as moving from
the World of the Fourth Sun into the World of the Fifth Sun and a time of a
rebirth.

If we choose to use the Mayan prophesies as
guidance we can recognize that that we are simply part of greater, ongoing
cycles for Humanity and begin to live our lives accordingly. When we begin
taking responsibility for creating our own reality we begin living in a very
different world.

Mayan Galactic Cycles

According to the Mayans,
there are nine sets of cycles, or
Underworlds of Creation and each Underworld has a period of 7 Days and 6
Nights. The duration of Days and Nights for each cycle is determined by the
specific cycle.

For example during the Cellular Cycle the
Days/Nights were 1.26 billion years long while during the Planetary Cycle, the
Days/Nights were 19.69 years long. We are currently in the Galactic Cycle,
which is 12.8 years long and each Day and Night is 360 days long.

Since the advent of the Fourth Night, which
began at the end of Nov. 2005, we have been integrating and preparing for
breakthroughs in the Human collective experience. Due to the nature of the
laws of synchronicity, when this energy merges with our world as it currently
exists we experienced changes in all aspects of reality including earth
changes, political upheaval and economic crisis.

During the Fifth Day (Nov. 24, 2006 - Nov. 18,
2007) we began to see unsustainable systems begin to break down. During the
Fifth Night (Nov. 19, 2007 -Nov. 12, 2008) we experienced the manifestation of
the darkness within each of us that is holding us back from moving into
enlightenment.

During the Sixth Day (Nov. 13, 2008 - Nov. 7,
2009) we realized how polarized we were from ourselves, others and the natural
world and we became aware of the enlightenment that is possible. During the
Sixth Night (Nov. 8, 2009 - Nov. 2, 2010 we began to experience our
multidimensional potential and move from linear time into Galactic time.

We are
now at the beginning of the
Seventh Day (Nov. 3, 2010 – Oct. 28, 2011) in the Galactic Cycle. The Seventh
Day is a period of Light and a time of preparation for an unprecedented leap in
Human evolution. It is of great significance that the Seventh Day culminates
near the end of 2011 and ushers Humanity into the energy of 2012.

The Mayan Galactic Perspective

Learning to understand the world from the Mayan
Galactic perspective will be invaluable in the days to come. The Mayan
Calendar is not simply a method of marking time but rather a map of human
potential that is meant to assist us as we begin to perceive reality from a
multidimensional global perspective. The Mayan information provides symbolic
keys and markers in time and space to help us navigate through the new reality
that is emerging through us.

2012 is not a future moment in time but rather
an energy that permeates every facet of our lives today and we are encouraged
to integrate our vision for the future into who we are in the present by
taking responsibility for our choices and our actions on a daily basis. When
we begin to take responsibility for the consequences of our choices, we begin
living in a very different world.

Carl Calleman, an internationally recognized
Mayan expert, describes the Mayan Calendar as “an intentional explorative and
dynamic process where the dates are offered only as synchronizing signposts.
What we do and who we are during these times are the features of our
collective awakening that ushers in the energies that the Mayan calendar
describes.”

Regardless of how relevant ancient Mayan
prophesies may seem to our lives today, the fact remains that we are living in
a time of unprecedented global changes in weather, natural disasters,
politics, economics and education. With the technologies that we currently
have at our disposal we truly do have the ability to change the world as we
know it, either by discovering how to live together peacefully which would in
fact usher in an age of enlightenment; or by destroying ourselves and our
world. It is up to us.